overnight. trees ripped from the ground, buildings flattened. many people this morning without a home. indra petersons tracking where these dangerous storms are moving this morning. players protesting, team sponsors pulling out. this morning, the outrage is growing after the billionaire owner of the los angeles clippers apparently caught on tape in racist ramblings. today the nba's set to make a big announcement on this scandal. we'll give you the very latest ahead. a change in strategy in the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. the air search officially ending overnight. we're live in perth, australia, with what's coming next. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. great to see you. it is tuesday, april 29th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. and we do begin with important breaking news, another night of dangerous storms moving through the south, leaving at least 13 more people dead, so many homes damaged, and towns simply devastated. the worst, it's not over yet.

even more severe weather could be headed that way today from texas all the way to the atlantic ocean. >> mississippi is under a state of emergency this morning. the city of tupelo under curfew after this tornado ripped through at least 100 homes, leaving at least eight people dead, many others hurt. take a look at this. the winds so powerful, the winds picked up this suv -- >> wow. >> -- stacked it on top of a car. about 100 miles south in lewisville, mississippi, another tornado was caught on camera. you've got to listen to this. >> stay here. oh, my god. no, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> stop. >> stop. >> shh, shh. everyone listen. everyone listen. >> the roar of that storm. >> fierce, fierce winds there. damage also in alabama, where three people are dead. that near tuscaloosa and west of

huntsville, where homes and businesses were hit by what the national weather service called a large, violent tornado. look at that. another major twister also touched down just across the state line in tennessee. two people reported dead there. >> and check out this video from southwest of atlanta. severe storms, possible tornado on the ground. there's damage, but luckily, no fatalities. 15 georgia counties, 15 counties are under a tornado watch this morning. in arkansas this morning, many still trying to make sense and clean up from a monster tornado there that left at least 14 people dead west of little rock. some of those killed were children. others simply couldn't make it to shelters in time, and those who witnessed this tornado called it unbelievable. >> it was huge. it was by far the biggest one i've ever seen, and not that i've seen that many, but yeah, it was just a huge, black cloud. >> and it just popped back up real quick.

and then i ran inside. in about a minute, it was over. i come outside, and what you see is what we have. >> in kansas, extensive damage, but amazingly, no deaths reported in baxter springs. that's in the southeastern part of that state. a two-block-wide tornado responsible for ripping the roofs off of homes there, knocking down the walls, doing all that damage you're seeing right now. the governor promising quick help for all those affected. >> i could have been in that. could have been dead. >> that from iowa, where a tornado obliterated that minivan minutes before she would have been inside. one person died nearby. damage there said to be extensive. >> indra petersons has the latest on these storms. indra, not over yet. a lot of people need to be very, very careful this morning. >> i mean, it's not even close to being over. we were hoping at this point we would see the risk go down, but again today, still a moderate risk. in fact, right now, another tornado warning has been issued, really heading out towards alabama, in through georgia, right around smith station. now is the time to take cover.

again, we are still talking about so many of you affected by the severe weather. today it has spread even farther. 73 million of you under the slight risk. we're talking detroit all the way through virginia beach, down through tallahassee. and notice where, again, we have an enhanced risk. a moderate risk is out there, that includes birmingham to north of mobile. of course, we still have the threat through the afternoon that we could see this heightened. where are we looking at? just in the morning hours, we're still talking about tornado watch boxes, including atlanta, also out towards asheville. this is going to be the concern, especially through the afternoon. we'll see these storms fire up. yesterday from about 2:00 p.m., once the sunlight came in, we saw this kick in. tornado reports, 80 reports of damage from just the last 24 hours, same thing the day before. why do we keep seeing this? well, there's a low off the coastline in the northeast that's just staying put, pretty much blocking this system right behind it. so, with that, you have that cold front. look at all this energy with the warm, moist air coming up out of the gulf. it is just firing these systems up as it pretty much stays in place.

now, by tomorrow, it moves again very slowly off to the east. we're still talking about storms from d.c. all the way down through jackson. we had that enhanced threat again for severe weather as we go in through tomorrow. we still have enhanced rainfall rates, 3 to 5 inches of rain under thunderstorms. so, flood watches, that's going to be the second concern here. we're talking about even including new york city, down through the southeast, heavy rain, which of course, means it's very difficult to see these storms as they are firing up. so, that will be the concern again right now. smith station currently under a tornado warning. >> gosh, some of the pictures are unbelievable, indra. when you look at pictures from lewisville in mississippi, just unbelievable how wide that storm is and the roar inside of it. >> i mean, what's actually terrifying is we saw a number of these yesterday, i mean, over and over again and some of them are long-track tornadoes, meaning they're on the ground for a long period of time, cycling up and going back down again. absolutely terrifying. >> the weather system just sitting there. >> just sitting there. wish we could change it. >> indra petersons, a lot of

hard work today. thanks. this morning, more companies backing away from the los angeles clippers. at least 12 companies have pulled their sponsorships amid an nba investigation into racist comments allegedly made by the team's owner, donald sterling. the league is set to make an announcement today about the next steps. stephanie elam has the latest for us this morning from los angeles. >> reporter: john and christine, the fallout from this alleged racist rant by the owner of the clippers, donald sterling, continues to be felt. several sponsors have now said that they are severing their relationship with the team. we know that red bull has pulled out, virgin america no longer is associated, and state farm is saying that they're taking a pause to evaluate the situation. several others also following that train of movement there. also hearing that the nba should know by 2:00 eastern time what their decision's going to be and how they're going to handle this issue with the owner here. that should be maybe some comfort heading into the game. game five will be here in los

angeles tonight. that game between the warriors and the clippers. what everyone wants to know is how clippers fans will act when the players take the court, whether or not they will protest or if they will turn out to support the players, even though they may not like what the owner has said. john and christine, back to you. >> thanks to stephanie elam for that. seven minutes after the hour. now the flight 370 search. the weather keeping the bluefin-21 out of the water, this as the air search has officially ended. they are done searching from the skies. miguel marquez live in perth, australia. and miguel, this is, you know, for a lot of people, a sad milestone. >> reporter: it is sad and frustrating for those crews specifically who were out there every day and staring out at that ocean in the long flights that they had to do every single day for the last 40 or 50 days. some of them, it has just been very, very tough going. some of them have been searching in all three areas across, you

know, the area, the wide area where the plane was meant to go down. it was all done in a commemoration today, sort of a commemoration and farewell, where 650 service members from seven different countries got together on the tarmac to take a group photo. pretty amazing to see chinese pilots chatting with american pilots, chatting with australian pilots, chatting with japanese pilots. really a global effort that you do not see in this case ever, but they are sad to see this one go without coming up with any piece of that plane. that said, officials here believe that they're very much searching in the right place. the bluefin-21 will continue to search. it's now searched 100% of the area that it was most interested in, but now they're searching north of that, toward the area of the first ping. they will also look for other areas that are promising, if they have to go to those. at the same time, they will bring in new gear and they will begin the process of laying down

the process for how they are going to search a very, very wide area, some 21,600 square miles. if it all goes to plan, if they have to search all that, it could take eight months at the least. it's going to be a long time before they find this plane, if that is the case. >> yeah, miguel, eight months if it all goes well. miguel marquez in perth, australia, for us. thanks so much. >> wow, that's some perspective. all right, the crisis in ukraine escalating overnight. riots in the streets, demonstrators battling with pro russian protesters. blood shed happening as the u.s. announces brand new sanctions against russia. we're live on the ground in ukraine with the very latest on this.

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that's on top of 16 killed in arkansas, oklahoma and iowa. officials warn the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers get a closer look at the damage. stay with us here. no, i should say, we do have news now of a tornado on the ground in alabama. indra, give us the latest. >> we have a tornado emergency. we have a confirmed tornado for that tornado warning around the smith station location. we're talking about seven miles south of smith there in towards alabama, moving in through georgia. keep in mind, this is a very fast-moving system, talking about it moving at 50 miles per hour. it is dark outside. if you know anyone in the region, call them, wake them up and tell them to take shelter, lowest, most interior level of the house. and if you have a helmet, put that on to protect your head from injury. >> really? >> very important. it's a dangerous time for these storms to be hitting, as people just waking up. all right, indra, thanks so much. all right, this morning, eastern ukraine teetering closer to the breaking point after a rally turned violent in donetsk. demonstrators calling the country to stay together.

they were set upon by separatist can clubs and whips, reportedly declaring "this place is russia." and it came just hours after the u.s. put in place new sanctions against some of vladimir putin's closest allies in an effort to de-escalate the crisis. but moscow says this will only make things worse. senior international correspondent nick paton walsh live for us in ukraine this morning. nick, bring us up to speed. what's happening now? >> reporter: well, european union has unleashed the names of people to be sanctioned, this list of names of people to be sanctioned, and frankly, it's weaker than that which we saw from the white house yesterday. there are key figures here, part of what kiev calls the sort of pro-russian separatist movement here. the chairman of the self-declared government and a man who's said to run the russian special forces units, kiev claims pushing the pro-russian militancy in this particular area. it doesn't contain some of the key kremlin putin aides who were sanctioned by the white house. but today, no real sign that these sanctions have changed

things on the ground. troubling reports confirmed by police that yesterday another body was found by the river in slovyansk. that's the sort of hot bed of the unrest here, near where i'm standing. we're also hearing that the mayor of the second largest city in ukraine, he was shot out while exercising in the town. he was shot and very badly injured, has, in fact, now been moved to israel, air-lifted there for further treatment. and at the same time, too, we're also, of course, letting people in donetsk, the troubling scene they saw last night in the center of that city, where a pro-ukrainian protest was broken up, many say by pro-russian protesters armed with sticks, clubs, other types of weapons. a number of people injured there. and i think, really, above all, that troubling scene of the unrest we've seen in the towns outlying the donetsk region, right in the city center of donetsk, which for now, really, have been going about its business quite normal. but instead, last night, saw those troubling scenes. christine? >> all right, nick. thanks for that report, nick

paton walsh for us. the obama administration will not have to reveal just how many people have been killed or injured in drone strikes. the senate has stripped a provision from an intelligence bill requiring those details be made public. the administration had said revealing that information could undermine operations overseas. president obama is on his way back home to washington this morning after wrapping up a four-nation, week-long asia trip. his last stop in the philippines. the president placed a wreath at an american cemetery. mr. obama is returning to some of the worst approval numbers of his presidency. a new abc news/"washington post" poll puts his approval at just 41%, the lowest since he came to office, and 53% of voters say they'd like to see republicans in charge of congress. >> it's the economy, not obamacare. >> it is. >> it's the economy that's a big driver of the negative numbers right now. >> the economy is improving, but not for a big chunk of people who are either underemployed or have been unemployed too long. >> other political news to tell you about. new york congressman michael grimm has pleaded not guilty to

federal fraud charges after being slammed with a 20-count indictment claiming he underreported employee wages at a restaurant he once owned, concealed more that be $1 million in earnings, also charged with lying under oath. the former fbi agent and former marine faces up to 20 years, if convicted. right now he says he plans to run for re-election. the so-called kissing congressman won't run for another term. louisiana representative vance mcallister announcing he'll give up the job early next year, a year after voters chose him in a special election. a few weeks ago, mcallister was caught on camera kissing an aide. he apologized again, saying he's now reconciled with his wife and his family after letting them down. new guidelines set to be formally unveiled today for colleges to deal with sexual assault on campus. a white house task force is recommending schools survey their students to get a better sense of how often assaults happen there and review their own sexual misconduct policies. the administration plans to launch a new website to inform students about sexual assault.

happening today, the supreme court takes up the question of when police can search your cell phone if they don't have a warrant. the justices will explore two cases involving suspects who were arrested and then had their phones examined by police. the government says a quick search is necessary to secure the contents of the phone, but opponents argue, once the phone is in police possession, there is plenty of time to get a warrant. boring and safe. no, not john berman. that's how investors on wall street are playing it this week. dow futures point to a higher open today after closing higher yesterday. european stocks up as well. the big winners, these so-called safe stocks, consumer staple companies, telecoms. financial stocks, on the other hand, started off the week pretty hard hit. one reason, bank of america. the company admitted yesterday bad math on its balance sheet. b of a, the country's second largest bank by assets, said it made a "incorrect adjustment" on its books tied to the 2009 purchase of merrill lynch, meaning the bank doesn't have as

much cash on hand as previously thought. it will have to cancel previous plans to give money back to shareholders. that's why the stock is down. >> safe and boring, huh? >> safe and boring, boring and safe. >> i'm very, very dangerous. don't listen to her. 18 minutes after the hour right now. nba players making clear they don't like those racially charged comments attributed to clippers owner donald sterling, protesting on and off the court. we've got andy scholes with all the details in his "bleacher report," next. ♪ [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen. [anngood and close.ose- make a my financial priorities appointment today. help keep teeth clean

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so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com i couldn't lay down it was a i couldn't sit up because it burned so much. as first lady of our church we have meetings. we have activities. and i couldn't do any of that. any time anything brushed up against this rash it would seem like it would set it on fire again. it was the worst pain i ever had.

it is a big day in sports and beyond. we should learn what the nba plans to do about clippers owner donald sterling and the alleged racist comments he made later today. in the meantime, teams all around the league, including the miami heat, showing solidarity with the clippers players. >> andy scholes joins us now with more on this morning's "bleacher report." hey, there. >> hey, good morning, guys. right when donald sterling's alleged comments became public, lebron was one of the first to say that there was no place for him in the nba. before last night's game four against the bobcats, the entire heat team, just like the clippers, went to center court, removed their shooting shirts and went through their pregame routine with their warm-ups inside-out. now, as for the game, lebron, he took care of business, scoring a game-high 31 points as the heat completed the sweep of the bobcats. in a pretty cool moment there, michael jordan congratulating lebron on winning the series. now, in his postgame press conference, lebron once again said that donald sterling needs to go.

>> -- an owner like that. and for us as basketball players, we are all brothers. we're competing against each other in this postseason and all of us want to win for our respective ball clubs, but at the end of the day, as players, we've got to stick together, and we supported our clippers tonight and showed our respect to what they're doing and what they're going through. one of the top stories on bleacherreport.com this morning is the sinking ship that is the indiana pacers. pacers are the one seed in the eastern conference, but they are hardly looking like it in this year's playoffs. the hawks behind a three-point barrage scored 41 points in the second quarter alone. they went on to easily win the game. and they're now just one win away from pulling off the monumental upset. and as you can imagine, larry bird not very happy about this. all right, the battle between the spurs and mavs continues to be a heated one. mavs up one late in the fourth quarter. downan blair and tiago get

tangled up and blair kicks splitter in the head. he was ejected for that. minutes later, boris diaw has the huge three-pointer. spurs squeak out the win 93-89 to even the series at two games apiece. the playoffs, of course, continue tonight with three games on tap. all eyes will be on l.a. as the clippers return home to host the warriors. that game tips off at 10:30 eastern on tnt. and yesterday, warriors head coach mark jackson said fans should boycott the game. he said the loudest statement they could make would be not to come to the staples center tonight. so, it's going to be interesting to see what fans do. of course, they want to support their clippers, but at the same time, they don't want to put more money in donald sterling's pocket. >> and for the players who have been working for this all season, to be sort of robbed of that glory of the playoffs by their, you know, by their owner is just really -- >> terrible timing. >> hate to see them caught in the middle. they have done nothing wrong and i hope the fans stand behind the players. >> absolutely. >> andy scholes, thank you so much. breaking news developing at

this moment, dozens of tornadoes touching down last night, thousands waking up to devastation all around them. the death toll rising this morning, and this storm system is still churning. we're bringing you everything you need to know, next.

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breaking news this morning. tornadoes tearing a deadly path through the south overnight into the morning. more tornadoes touching down just moments ago. indra petersons tracking these storms and who needs to be alert right now. could change soon be coming to the los angeles clippers?

in just a few hours, the nba's set to make an announcement about its investigation into the team's owner and racist remarks caught on tape, as sponsors pull their support from the team. is the nba ready to hand its own punishment? and breaking news overnight, an official ending to the surface search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370, as investigators reveal new information to the families of those on board, playing for them the last audio recordings received from the cockpit of the vanished airliner. you're going to hear these recordings live, just ahead. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it's 30 minutes past the hour this tuesday morning. there is breaking news this hour from the south, where more dangerous storms hit overnight. we've got watches and warnings up for a big part of the southeast right now. the death toll stands at 29 in six states. >> mississippi among the state's worst hit. the entire state there is under a state of emergency right now,

this after a tornado hit tupelo, in the tupelo area. at least 100 homes were damaged. at least eight people there now dead. you can see the impact. cars just thrown around. look at this suv. it's lifted on top, placed right on top of another one. you can only imagine what it's like to try to ride out a storm like this. some people did that about 100 miles south in lewisville, mississippi. listen to this. >> stay here. oh, my god. no, no, no, no, no, no. >> stop. >> stop. >> shh, shh. everyone listen. everyone listen. >> northern alabama also struck by tornadoes that tore apart homes and businesses. at least two people are dead west of huntsville, the result of what the national weather service called a large, violent twister. another person was killed in tuscaloosa. a major tornado also touched down just across the state line in tennessee. at least two people dead there.

>> very dangerous situation in georgia, too. take a look at this cell phone video from southwest of atlanta, spotting a possible tornado on the ground. there's damage, though luckily, no fatalities there. 15 georgia counties are under a tornado watch this morning. arkansas is cleaning up this morning, and they're trying to make sure there are no more victims from the tornado that caused severe damage and at least 14 deaths in two towns west of little rock. those who witnessed this storm call it just unbelievable. >> it was huge. it was by far the biggest one i've ever seen, and not that i've seen that many, but yeah, it was just a huge, black cloud. >> and it just popped back up real quick. then i ran outside. in about a minute it was over. i come outside, and what you see is what we have. >> southeastern kansas also affected when a two-mile-wide tornado marched its way through baxter springs, ripping the roofs off homes, knocking down

walls. amazingly there, no deaths reported. the governor is promising quick help for those victims. >> i could have been in that. could have been dead. >> a few minutes, the difference between life and death in keokuk, iowa. a tornado dropping debris on that minivan. luckily, that woman wasn't inside the vehicle yet. another person nearby died from the storm that damaged, as you can see there, severe and extensive. indra petersons is tracking these storms, these storms with the threat not over yet this morning. we just heard a few minutes ago, indra, of more twisters touching down. >> yeah, and of course this morning, we're still talking about this huge risk area. it's even gone farther, spread wider today for severe weather. we're talking about 73 million of you under the gun for just the slight risk area. where is that? detroit all the way through virginia beach, down into the south, so out towards tallahassee, extending back to louisiana. but today already another moderate risk, the enhanced risk is already out there from birmingham to just north of mobile, alabama. this is going to be the concern, 2.5 million of you still looking

at the threat for severe weather. very easy to see, still looking this morning at tornado watch boxes, including atlanta, just east of montgomery, kind of just north of looks like panama city beach. this is the concern, this line of storms already powerful this morning. just a few minutes ago we did have a confirmed tornado. easy to see. once you let the sunlight in the afternoon, the storms really ramp up. very easy to see yesterday. 80 reports of tornado damage, especially in the focus area of enhanced risk yesterday, even up to a high risk. why are we still talking about the severe weather? it is such a slow-moving system. the reason for that is a huge low spinning in the northeast. this guy is pretty much blocking this system behind it. so, this entire system almost staying in place. you had that cold front, you have all that warm, moist air coming out of the gulf, really spawning up these thunderstorms into the southeast. that is the concern. so, even as we go in through tomorrow, the same cold front slowly makes its way off to the east. we're still talking about advisories here from d.c. all the way down through jacksonville for severe weather. the thing i want to point out, although the system itself is moving slow, these cells, these

thunderstorms and tornadoes are moving very quickly, even as fast as 50, 60 miles per hour. so heed the warnings. 3 to 5 inches of rain, even through new york city. what are we talking about? the next step would be flood watches, from new york city back through mobile. but that's the key thing. everyone knows it's a slow system, but the tornadoes are not. they are very fast moving, do not have time. go straight downstairs. >> be alert. thanks, indra. appreciate it. this morning there are more calls for the nba to eject l.a. clippers owner donald sterling in light of those racist comments he's alleged to have made to his girlfriend. more sponsors have now pulled their support of that team as the coach, doc rivers, admits he believes that it is donald sterling on these tapes, but he passed on a chance to speak to the owner about the controversy. >> these last 48 hours or more have been really hard for our players and for everyone, and i

would just like to reiterate how disappointed i am in the comments attributed to our owner, and i can't tell you how upset i am, our players are. >> when a hit of cancer is shown, you have to cut it out immediately. and i feel that's where the players are today. they don't think he's worthy to be an owner. so, whether there's a sanction that includes a suspension, whether there's a sanction that includes a hefty fine, at the end of the day, the players feel very strongly that he's not fit to be an owner and a part of this nba family. >> the nba commissioner's expected to make an announcement about its investigation at a news conference this afternoon. the clippers play their next playoff game against the warriors this evening. warriors coach mark jackson, he's calling on fans to stay home to send a message to sterling. >> you know, maybe they won't have to. maybe the nba will step in in time before that game to make some kind of dramatic announcement. maybe the fans can go and

support those players who have done nothing wrong, to be clear. >> i'm interested in legally what the league can do if someone owns the team. >> murky. murky. but it seems as if they can be suspended or they can put a lot of pressure on him to sell at some point. >> can they force him to sell? >> forcing is hard, very hard. the nba charter is a private thing, but i think when all the sponsors pull out, when the players say i don't want to play for him, when the coach doesn't back him up, when everyone in the league makes him a pariah, i don't think he'll want to own the team much longer. moving on to the search for flight 370, an official end to the search by air for the jet that's been missing nearly two months. the focus is now under water after officials acknowledge they need to search a bigger area to try to find the boeing 777. this process now, they say, could take months. miguel marquez live in perth, australia. good morning, miguel. >> reporter: good morning there, john. a lot of things happening all at the same time here. that air search came to an end today with the commemoration and farewell service for the many, many hundreds of air personnel from seven different countries

that got together at pearce royal air force base north of perth here to take a group photo, and it's a very impressive group photo, among the many planes they used during this search over the many months. personnel we spoke to, american speaking to chinese counterparts, very pleased to take part in this, frustrated, though, that they did not come up with anything. as for the search for the plane itself, it will continue and intensify under water. the bluefin will continue to dive, even though it's already searched 100% of the most likely area where they thought the airliner was. it will continue to search north of that. they will also target an area that is about ten kilometers or six miles north of that area, where the first ping was picked up. and then they will also prepare for a much longer search that could involve a lot of different types of devices, probably towed-type devices, side sonar devices that they can get giant scans, very fine scans of the ocean, and that would be towed by ships that would take, you know, this is an area that's

21,600 square miles. it is going to take a lot of time. they say if everything goes perfectly, it could take eight months, but probably longer. >> that is a very long time. miguel, officials have said they are following up now on every lead. we just got word a few minutes ago of a possible debris sighting that they're following up on now in the bay of bengal. that is not close at all to where you are. >> reporter: no, it's not close at all, and it's a bit of an odd one. this one has caught the internet by storm overnight. there's an australian company that claims to have found evidence of an airliner in the bay of bengal, mainly because they picked it up by spectral analysis, basically. they have not shared any of their specific data. they say that they've written letters to the agency here coordinating the search and to the malaysians, but they've had no response. malaysians now saying they're looking into it. the joint agency coordinating center here, the main coordinating center for the search says, look, it's not even in the radar track that inmarsat gave us, and we're not

investigating it as serious, we don't think it's real, we're going to keep concentrating down here, we believe we have the right place down here. so, it's not clear that this company, where their data is coming from and what it is, but the malaysians now saying that they will look into it and figure out whether there is anything to it. john? >> miguel, thanks for shedding some light on that at least. good to see you this morning. miguel marquez in perth, australia. in beijing overnight, families received a new briefing and new details about this investigation. our ivan watson was there. he'll tell us what the families heard, ahead in just a few minutes. all right, breaking news this morning. north korea launching new military exercises, drawing a harsh warning from the south. plus, riots in the streets of ukraine. protests turning violent overnight. we're live with the latest, next.

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in eastern ukraine this morning, tensions boiling over.

a rally turned violent when groups clashed after new sanctions were put in place against vladimir putin's closest allies in an effort to put pressure on russia. moscow says it will only make things worse. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh in slovyansk, ukraine, this morning. nick, give us a sense of the latest. >> reporter: those european union sanctions are in many ways weaker than what we heard from the white house yesterday. there are pro-russian protesters targed and also some aides to putin, but none of the big figures that barack obama announced moves against yesterday. on the ground here, we are still seeing the pro-russian militants moving against buildings. they took another town last night, sorry, yesterday in the morning. and the concern, of course, is now we're seeing unrest spreading to that key city of donetsk. it had been so calm, despite the fact that its main administration building was occupied by protesters now for weeks. last night, the pro-ukrainian

rally attacked by pro-russian demonstrators. sticks, clubs, anything they could lay their hands on. there were people badly hurt in that, but above all now, i think a sense of shock that that kind of unrest was possible in the heart of the biggest city in this region and the police did little really to stop the clashes breaking out. back to you, john. >> no sign of the violence waning any time soon, an election scheduled weeks from now. nick paton walsh, thank you. live fire exercises now under way by north korea in the yellow sea, very close to the south korean border. north korea did notify the south of its plans, but seoul is warning, it will take action if any artillery shells fall on its side of the border. let's take a look at what's coming up on "new day." kate bolduan joins us this tuesday morning. hi, kate. good morning, guys. we're following the deadly tornadoes that you guys are as well, ravaging the midwest and southern united states today. 75 million people still under severe weather threat and face the possibility of more tornadoes. it's moving slowly, it's moving

through these states, and the threat isn't over yet. we have everything you need to know, including where the storm is expected to hit next. plus, we're going to bring you never-before-released audio of flight 370's final communications with the control tower. we're going to break down what it means for the investigation. and we also have the latest on those racist comments allegedly made by donald sterling, owner of the l.a. clippers. they've obviously been all over the news this week. the nba commissioner will hold a news conference about it today. what does the league plan to do about it? what can the league do about it? we're going to be talking with former nba players about it and get their take, what should be done and what should be done from here going forward. >> cedric maxwell, former celtic great, ahead on your show. very good booking, strong. kate bolduan, thank you. >> get as many pictures with him as possible. all right, as kate mentioned, we're hearing for the first time the last radio communications from flight 370 to the tower. much more on that live from beijing next. ♪

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this morning the families of those on flight 370 are getting some answers, and they're hearing what the pilots said to the tower the night the jet disappeared. the malaysian government briefing them overnight in beijing. our senior international correspondent, ivan watson, was there. he joins us this morning live. and ivan, can you tell us, what were the families told? they've had so many questions for so many weeks now. they're finally getting some of those details. >> reporter: yeah, and it was welcome hearing these details. for example, as you mentioned, audio recordings from what the malaysian authorities said were the final radio conversations that the crew of mh-370 had with ground control. let's take a listen to an excerpt of it. it's hard to make out. it's playing in a conference

room speaker system, but it is something that the families have been asking for now for basically a month and a half. take a listen. >> malaysian 370 good morning. >> malaysian 370 stand by, and malaysia 6 is cleared -- >> reporter: christine, the last of the conversations we hear -- that's just an excerpt there, a sampling -- ends with a crew member from malaysian air flight 370 saying "goodnight malaysia 370," but there was a lot more that was shared here. the malaysian authorities basically describing a chronology of the last communications with the plane. and one thing sticks out here. at around 2:00 a.m. on march 8th, malaysian airlines from ground control sent a message, telling the crew to start communicating with ground control in vietnam, which is on the iitinerary of the plane it was supposed to fly from kuala

lumpur, malaysia, to beijing, china. there was no response from that, they say . at 2:22, that was the last time that the malaysian air force's radar pinged the plane. then some five hours later, malaysian airlines tried to call the cockpit and didn't get an answer there. malaysian airlines estimates that the plane would have run out of fuel about an hour after that. we don't know what kind of -- what was going on for five hours there and why malaysian airlines didn't try to communicate with that plane during that five-hour period there. also, details about the hand shakes, the so-called handshakes between a satellite over the indian ocean and the plane over a six-hour period, and those handshakes basically showing that the plane was very far off course in relation with the elevation of that satellite. so, details finally, as well as serial numbers of the black box, the flight data recorder of the

plane. these were well received by the families today. for once, a meeting that did not result in people screaming and yelling and insulting the malaysian officials that they met with. >> and that truly is remarkable and a turning point. nick, thank you. just ahead from us, a financial news update from christine romans that could change your life forever. we'll be right back. when sales rep steve hatfield books at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation.

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welcome back. the obama administration will be able to keep its drone strikes secret. the senate has stripped a provision from an intelligence bill requiring details of who was killed by drones. they want those details made public. the administration has said revealing that information could undermine operations overseas. critics say lawmakers are avoiding an important debate. the president heading home right now on his way back to washington after wrapping up his week-long trip to asia. his last stop was the philippines. the president laid a wreath at an american cemetery in manila before getting back aboard air force one for the long flight back. he probably won't be happy to see new poll numbers awaiting

his return. the abc news/"washington post" survey gives the president just a 41% approval rating. that is the lowest of his presidency in the abc news poll. 53% of voters now say they'd like to see republicans in charge of congress. what's most interesting about this poll is that the economy is dragging down the president's numbers. >> interesting. a quick check of stocks right now. in europe, they're trading higher. futures for stocks here pointing to a higher open on wall street as well. the big buzz this morning, though, about a new fare structure for frontier airlines. get ready for a new frontier of fees, specifically, 25 bucks to put something in the overhead bin. 25 bucks for the overhead bin, and if you don't prebook that carry-on space, you're paying 35 bucks. the airline announced this yesterday as part of a new ultra low-cost model, similar to their rival airlines spirit. frontier will give passengers a cheaper base price and then charges you for the services you use, like the overhead bin.

that means fees for more than overhead bins, extra legroom, even picking your own seat will cost you extra. if you want the cheapest fares, book online ahead of time, not at the airport. >> you have to wear like a track suit and carry a wallet, if you want -- >> duct tape, strap everything to your body, although i'm sure -- >> that won't go over well with the tsa. >> all right that won't work. >> i wonder if you still get cookies at frontier. >> do they? >> don't put them in the overhead bin, because that will cost you 25 bucks! "new day" starts right now. this is a large violent tornado. there are all sorts of stuff falling out of the sky. this is bad. it's tearing something up. >> breaking news. tornadoes on a tear. more than a dozen killed overnight. communities decimated and it's not over. 75 million americans in the crosshairs today. listen to the storiny about a business being blown away,

except for the bathroom, and that's where the employees were. also breaking, the pilot speaks. for the first time, what did the recordings tell investigators. we have the audio. happening today, the nba set to make a major announcement about clippers owner donald sterling. sponsors flee, players angry. what will the league do? what can the league do? your "new day" starts right now your "new day" starts right now p. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. welcome to "new day." 75 million americans are still in the path of deadly tornadoes. and threat is clear from the pictures overnight. just look at this. look at this storm. there's lightning, the tornadoes are touching down napts one of 12 that touched down in mississippi. emergency officials in the state are reporting eight